The Bride's Kimono

by Sujata Massey

HarperCollins, September, 2001.
Hardcover, 310 pages.
ISBN: 0060199334

The Bride's Kimono by Sujata Massey Rei Shimura, a Japanese American antiques dealer living in Tokyo is offered what sounds like a dream job: an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D. C. to deliver priceless antique kimonos to a museum. She is also to deliver several lectures on the kimonos. At the eleventh hour, a beautiful wedding kimono is substituted for one of the garments which is deemed too delicate to travel. To save money on the ticket, Rei flies with a charter group of Japanese ladies who are on a mission to shop. When the museum refuses to take the wedding kimono because it is uninsured, Rei is stuck with it. The kimono is stolen, and one of the women from the trip turns up dead in a dumpster with Rei's passport. Things get worse from there: the D.C. police seem convinced Rei is a prostitute after she is filmed reenacting that infamous scene from Risky Business on a train with former Scottish boyfriend, Hugh Glendinning, then her parents and her current Japanese boyfriend blow into town. Rei must find the missing kimono, save her career, and try to salvage her rapidly-detonating love life.

In this fifth entry in the popular mystery series, Rei gets a change of location as she heads back to the United States for her latest adventure. Rei is one of those people that could head down to the corner store for some sushi and become involved in anything from murder to mayhem. The Bride's Kimono is hip, it's sexy, it's fun, and it has some fascinating details about antique kimonos; this is a wonderful series that just keeps getting better and better.

The Bride's Kimono is available for purchase on Amazon.com

Note: We may receive a commission from sales made through product links in this article.

This review was published in the September, 2001 of The Internet Writing Journal.

Copyright © Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved.